Rugby in the snow and a new trimester begins

Living in the Midwest, you don’t know what weather you’ll be hit with in the next week. This past weekend when we played our final game we realized while we traveled up to Minneapolis that it was going to be cold and snowy for the match. We knew we had to put our hearts, mind and every part of us in this game to succeed. From the start, we were letting the weather get to us and we weren’t running our system like we usually do. By the end of the first half, we were down by 10. We picked up speed in the beginning of the second half but eventually the Amazons overcame our defense, and eventually won the game. It was heartbreaking to see that happen but we later found out that the Amazons were going to forfeit their place in playoffs due to other obligations of a few players on the team. This gave us their place in playoffs in Grand Rapids, Michigan! We were so surprised, but at the same time, excited to continue our season and hoping to continue through playoffs. We are preparing this week during practices, working on our weaknesses and fitness to make sure we are at our top for this game this coming weekend.

With the start of our trimester this week, the first trimester students and the new undergrad students had orientation on Monday. Since I’m a mentor I get the opportunity to join them on their tour of campus and lunch to help them with any questions or finding things around campus. My group was a little more quiet than I expected, but after a trip around campus they talked more about where they’re from and asked questions about classes and material they will need. It was great seeing students from all over — not just the United States, but all over the world. There were quite a few students from Wisconsin, so we made connections there but usually the new students have so much information given to them in a little amount of time during that morning, which causes many to be a little overwhelmed. The first day of classes weren’t too stressful but I know I will have to get used to scheduled days again. A lot of the students in my group from orientation didn’t feel as comfortable with their way around campus yet, so during our club hour at 9:20 a.m. I took a group of them around campus to show them the different ways to get to each of their classes. Palmer has a few buildings but once you get yourself oriented, walking to class and around campus becomes easy. I can’t wait to get to know these new students more and see them succeed here at Palmer.

I’m very excited to be in my 6th trimester because I’m taking my first couple electives here at Palmer and we have more technique classes involved in our schedule. With my schedule for the winter I knew it was the perfect time to take SOT due to its time slot. Since we don’t play rugby during the winter, this allows this elective and practice to not interfere with the time of each activity. I also decided to take the activator elective to learn more about this technique and its benefits. My classmates and I will also be taking thoracolumbar and pelvic technique courses where we will learn about the set-ups, subluxations and more with the different techniques taught for these areas of the body. I’m excited to have more hands-on experience but I know this will be a crazy, busy trimester!